Lucy Johnson

In the words of Lucy's parents;

''Buried under bandages, wires and tubes galore,

lies a fighter of unmatched strength'

Through my Simplicity Blog today I am asking anyone who reads this to remember in your prayers a little girl fighting for her life in the US.

I’ve got to know Dick Field in the last couple of years through my writing and through Simplicity Blog. Dick works in healthcare in the US military and so we have things in common, not least we are both Grandfathers. Dick’s Grand daughter Lucy Johnson is currently fighting to survive a double lung transplant. Little Lucy is 8 months old and been awaiting a double lung transplant since December.

After the diagnosis of Lucy’s rare lung disease her family were informed shortly after her premature birth that Lucy’s only hope of survival is bilateral lung transplant, and this was performed at St. Louis Children's Hospital just a few days ago. Lucy continues her battle and as Dick says ‘I believe this little girl is being saved for something special.’

There are many people throughout the US and beyond who are now praying for Lucy. Regardless of religious beliefs I ask all readers of Simplicity to find some time to pray for this little girl and ask your friends to do the same.

You can read more about Lucy at this link http://www.carepages.com/AboutCarePage?id=125313 where you can register for updates on Lucy’s condition. Once you have your registration you can search for LucyGwendolynJohnson and you will then be able to access a message board and updates as well as many photos of her short life that has been spent entirely in hospital.

We may not be able to offer hands on practical help for Lucy at this time but we can all pray - and God of course hears us.

Fun at the Zoo

Annie and I had a trip to Devon last week to see my three children and two Grandsons Sebastian and Reece. We went to the Zoo and I was able to generally act in a very immature way. This included playing in the ball pit with Sebastian and getting told off that adults are not supposed to climb on the apparatus! .... I hope I never grow up. Annie took lots of great pictures .... A few are shown here.

Children - our greatest gift.

I’ll be resting from Blogging for a couple of days.

I am passionate about the exchanges I have through Blogging both here and on Tom Peters Blog. I learn so much from the interactions I have with so many terrific people all over the world through Blogging.

At 55 years of age I love my work more than ever and I feel young enough to to carry on working for a few more decades yet just like my heroes Sir Alex Ferguson, Tony Benn and George Giarchi.

Work is good for me.

HOWEVER .......

Nothing can be more important than encouraging our children and grandchildren.

Today Annie and I look forward to a trip to see my two Grandsons Sebastian (right) and Reece (left) pictured above.

We are all blessed with many gifts from God. The opportunity and the ability to work is one gift that I cherish but the greatest gifts are people.

I am blessed to have the beautiful gift of Annie as my wife. I am blessed to have 3 terrific children who are gifts that make me very proud. These two wonderful grandsons are very special gifts who have both already made a huge impact on my world.

I will return to Blogging on Saturday.

You don't have to shout to be 'heard'

Picture the scene …

Late afternoon Friday - crowded rail carriage - a mixture of business people and families.

I was enjoying a nice peaceful journey and settling down to read my book on the two and a half hour journey home.

From four or five rows back I could hear the voice of an awfully well spoken English business man type. I guessed his profession to be something like solicitor or senior doctor. He was very precise in his use of words and the language had a kind of officialdom sound to it. He was clearly knowledgeable about the subject he was talking about. It happened to be various forms of discrimination gender, race, age etc.

His friend sitting next to him was presumably engaged in this discussion with him but I could not hear his voice.

I am an easy going sort but the clue is in the last paragraph about why I got increasingly frustrated.

It was perfectly fine for this man to have his conversation – after all - we live in a country where we can celebrate free speech.

My point is ... his conversation was not with the whole bloody carriage .... just the man he was sitting next to.

Come on – be honest – you’ve met these types on the train too haven't you?

These are the sort I describe as loving the sound of their own voice. They create enough volume for everyone within earshot (and well beyond in this case) to hear the wisdom of this great ego driven oratory expert.

Contrast that with the young family opposite me.

Mum and Dad probably in their early 20’s and their little girl of about 2. The child was immaculately behaved and entertained us with charming giggles every now and then. Her young parents managed to occupy their little girl so she did not cause any inconvenience to other passengers with the noise level. It was pretty obvious that this lovely family unit was not blessed with the oratory skills of the passenger from 5 rows back. To me their limited vocabulary, their warmth, and their obvious love for their child was a sight and sound far more noteworthy than the arrogant antics of ‘gobbie' from five sets back!

Oh Trevor – you really must stop being so judgmental!

Just needed to share that with you ….

A rant on a Sunday is great don’t you think?

Obesity in young people - Don't blame the NHS

What is it with childhood obesity?

The NHS can do some of the work but the big solution is NOTHING TO DO WITH DOCTORS AND NURSES.

The big solution is within us all individually. I have to ask the thorny question - who are the role models for our precious young people?

I am so optimistic when I see the passion of young people for healthy activity - despite the example many adults set rather than because of it.

Why do we jump to blame others before we look in the mirror?

I am appalled for instance that some of the top people in the NHS are significantly overweight. Sorry, but that is just not the right image and smacks of hypocrisy in the extreme.

Frankly I am fed up with the blame for obesity being given to burgers from MacDonald’s – sorry but that is just a cop out from our own accountability as parents and adults.

Phew I feel so much better now ….

Welcome Reece

At 3.41 am Friday 21 September 2007 my second Grandchild came into this world.

My daughter Nadine gave birth to Reece – a brother for Sebastian who is now two and a half years old.

This photo was taken just over an hour ago. To me as a 'mature student' on such things this technology seemed the stuff of science fiction not so long ago!

I got a phone text multi media message from Nadine which contained this photo. Annie, who is my in-house IT consultant as well as the best wife in the world, worked out how to download the picture to my PC and here I am with the ability to proudly show Reece to the whole world just over an hour later – I’m gobsmacked!

Thank you so much God for protecting Nadine and delivering Reece safely into our world.

Somehow my painful gum infection seems less important …… Life is so precious.

All our Children are 'Gifted'

On the theme of children I was, last week, a facilitator of a discussion on the future support needed for our children in the UK in order for them to achieve their full potential.

This is the event that gave me the wonderful experience of meeting Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the second time. I feel very privileged.

Mr Brown has made it a personal priority to promote young people and I was impressed by his enthusiasm about our young people.

I was more impressed that he stayed at the event for almost 2 hours.

Normally, in my experience, MP’s (never mind the PM!!) arrive at such events, deliver a speech written by a civil servant and then leave for 'another' engagement.

It was tremendous to see Mr Brown spend time with a number of young people listening to their views. He had no notes or autocue's for the short speech he made - most of the time he was there was spent listening.

This had got me thinking about how precious our children are.

I am reminded of my hero Tony Benn who said that during his 50 year plus career as an MP he came across political opponents who advocated special schools for ‘gifted’ children. Mr Benn said that he had 4 children and they are all ‘gifted.’ His children all have children and they are all ‘gifted.’ He said that all the thousands of his constituents over 50 years had ‘gifted’ children too.

Unsurprisingly I fully agree with Tony Benn ... all our children are ‘gifted.’

We need to celebrate our children.

More on Poverty

I had a very insightful comment from a 20 year old person called Amelia in New Zealand about one of my recent postings on world poverty and it got me thinking again about this issue. Thank you Amelia.

I just can’t get the enormity of this out of my head.

On our one planet 20,000 - that is TWENTY THOUSAND people die every day – mainly children – due simply to poverty.

At the same time I hear that the amount of money we spend in Europe on ice cream would be enough to provide an education for every child in the world.

We all have to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what we are doing practically to help. I may well write about this issue but I must do more. We all must do more.

Think for a moment about how in our enlightened society of 2007 we believe the slave trade was degrading, inhumane and scandalous until its abolition 200 years ago thanks to the efforts of people like William Wilberforce. I wonder if the children of my great grandchildren may look back on 2007 and say ...

‘In 2007 in such a supposedly advanced civilisation how could they possibly have not only allowed, but openly condoned such scandalous poverty on the same one planet that had such obscene wealth?’

Mahatma Ghandi when asked what he thought of democracy in the western world replied ‘I think it would be a very good idea’

I have great faith in young people who will I hope keep rattling the cage for justice.

Justice Not Charity

*We can all produce facts that can be taken out of context.

*Statistics can be twisted to suit an argument.
*Spin doctors can put a slant on things to create a story.

Having said all that, and allowing for inevitable cynicism about such things, I say it is simply not acceptable in 2007 to just accept the following statement;

‘The amount of money we spend on ice cream in Europe is enough to immunize every child in the world’

Source:
Worldwatch Institute
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1784

In a world where 20,000 people die every day – mainly children – due to poverty, I have to agree with Bono who says ‘This is not a charity issue – it is a justice issue.’

SNAP

I am delighted to say I have been appointed Chairman of a local voluntary organisation (in an unpaid capacity)

SOLIHULL SPECIAL NEEDS ACTIVE PARTNERSHIP is better known locally as SNAP

SNAP aims to enable parents and carers, the voluntary sector and statutory bodies to work together on behalf of children with special needs.

SNAP is an independent charity which works with parents from all parts of the Borough of Solihull.

I initially did some work about a year ago as a consultant for SNAP to try and assist them come to terms with massive changes going on in the voluntary sector. I was subsequently invited to join the Board of Directors and now comes the opportunity to become Chairman after just a few months.

How quickly these things happen.

SNAP is an organisation that is held in the highest possible esteem by the ‘customers’ of the services provided.

Last night (Tuesday) was my first Board Meeting as Chairman of the Board and I genuinely feel a sense of pride in being associated with an organisation that is so highly regarded by 'customers' of the service.

During the meeting the senior manager of SNAP showed us a letter signed by 10 parents of children who have special needs. The letter sang the praises of the service SNAP provides and how important it is for the quality of life of these parents.

It feels like a great responsibility to be Chairman of such a well respected and well loved organisation.

I just hope I can live up to this.

Are we failing our children in the UK?

The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries. The BBC report of this research can be seen by clicking here

Unicef looked at 40 indicators from the years 2000-2003 including poverty, family relationships, and health. America and Britain finished 20th and 21st respectively in this league table which is surely telling us something very significant about our young people. I think it is telling us something more important about parenting and the education system in the UK.

What do you think?

This is the full league table.

1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. Italy
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Belgium
11. Germany
12. Canada
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Czech Republic
16. France
17. Portugal
18. Austria
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. United Kingdom
Source: Unicef